AmericanaFest 2025 Day 3
Day 3 of AmericanaFest began with a couple of opportunities to learn, then gave away to (what else) more great music in and around Nashville.
Staying Ahead in the Age of AI
This panel discussion, moderated by Todd Dupler, Chief Advocacy & Public Policy Officer for the Recording Academy (the GRAMMY people), dealt with a topic that is already affecting musicians today, but will have an impact on everyone as it evolves. There was a lot of discussion of fair use, lawsuits and executive orders, but the key observation was made by singer (and Emerging Artist nominee) Maggie Rose when speaking of the famously faux band, The Velvet Sundown, and indicating that AI (non-)artists like this are not only pulling money away from real, live, human music makers, but also take up space on key Spotify playlists that would’ve benefited true songwriters and musicians. Legal avenues of response are slow, but tech is fast and unrelenting – solutions are needed now.
Interview with Tamara Saviano
I had the opportunity to sit down with Tamara Saviano, the author of Poets and Dreamers: My Life in Americana Music and former president of the Americana Music Association, to talk about her time spent working with Kris Kristofferson and Guy Clark and her thoughts on the current state of the AMA. Look for that full interview in the coming days on Americana Highways.
Ilegal Mescal Presents the Paste Americana Party
After talking all morning about music, it was time to listen to some! The Paste Magazine Party took place at Love and Exile, a restaurant/bar/winery in East Nashville featuring two stages brimming with music. My goal was to see North Carolina band Fust, whose album Big Ugly is one of the best of the year (and placed them on my AFest Must List). But the fun of these multi-band events is getting turned on to someone new. On the outdoor stage, Southern Avenue provided fiercely soulful three-part harmonies along with some greasy Memphis slide guitar – “Late Night Get Down” was a highlight. Indoors, Susto Stringband provided an excellent, laidback counter offer. Back outside, my favorite find of the show was Zach Person. Not your average Nashville Zach, he’s an Austin-based guitarist whose three-piece cosmic blues band elicited a fierce rain from the heavens (seriously – it was the only rain we saw all week). Do you ears a favor and check this guy out.
Fust was next on the outdoor stage, and my first time seeing this band was not a disappointment. Songwriter Aaron Dowdy broke out Big Ugly’s best songs, “Gateleg” and “Jody,” and by the time they’d gotten to the big finish, “Spangled,” Francie Medosch and her Florry bandmates (performing next) had shown up to cheer them on and sing along.
Amanda Shires – EXIT/IN
Perhaps the anticipated showcase in Nashville this year was Amanda Shires’ first public presentation of songs from her new album, Nobody’s Girl. We know the history (Shires and Jason Isbell separated, then divorced nearly two years ago), and the aftermath has been…bumpy (if you were at Isbell’s Mission Ballroom show in Denver last year, you know that Shires’ opening set bordered on cringe-inducing). Shires now seems in a much better place, ready to make music again. Her set, while energetic and fiery, didn’t roil in the (admittedly traumatic) recent past. Joined by a fine band, including former 400 Unit bandmate Jimbo Hart on bass, the set was equal parts old and new Shires tunes – highlights included 2022’s “Take It Like a Man,” with rosin flying off her fiddle bow in the aggressively fan-cooled EXIT/IN, to the live debut of “Friend Zone,” an exploration of rejoining the dating culture, which Shires prefaced by exclaiming, “Welcome to my debut!” Shires has long been one of my favorite live performers – she’s still got an edge, but that sharpness is now pointing in a better direction.
Dom Flemons – Station Inn
Known as “The American Songster” because he can play just about any song on any instrument, and he played a bunch of ‘em in 45 minutes, including the quills (a sort of pan flute). He also played “Steel Pony Blues,” a song from his 2018 album, Black Cowboys, then brought out a fretless banjo for “Lost River Blues,” a piece he composed for Yo-Yo Ma. It’s a sentence that only truly makes sense if you know the intelligence and the magic behind everything that Don Flemons does.
Medium Build – The Blue Room
The sparkling new (and very blue) listening room at Jack White’s Third Man Records was the setting for many of this year’s buzziest showcases, perhaps none bigger than Medium Build, with the Emerging Artist nominee following up his standout performance from the previous night’s Awards. Nick Carpenter’s story stretches from Georgia to Tennessee to Alaska, giving him a wealth of stories to tell (on this night, the best ones all seemed to take place in a Murfreesboro Kroger). Even with limited time on the clock, Carpenter squeezed plenty of music in between his tales, both originals (“In My Room”), a cover (Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time”) and with friends (Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes joined him for “This Is Life”). Carpenter also noted that he used to volunteer for AFest years ago, and noted one positive about the current music marketplace – it’s “broken the gatekeeping.” Nearly anyone can have access to making music – it just happens that Medium Build is one of the best doing it today.
A Tribute to Luke Bell presented by Western AF – The Basement East
Some of the best of Nashville and points all over gathered to pay tribute to the late country singer-songwriter Luke Bell. Highlights included appearances from Kristina Murray and Emily Nenni, and The Local Honeys brought out a harmonium to join former Bell bandmates in presenting an unreleased song, “The Wolf Man.” An unforgettable capper to the evening occurred when Luke’s mom, Carol Bell, took the stage to announce that the royalties from Bell’s upcoming album of unreleased recordings, The King Is Back (out November 7), will benefit the Luke Bell Affordable Counseling Program in Wyoming, Bell’s home state. A fitting tribute to a fine musician gone too soon.
Enjoy Day 2 coverage here: Show Review: AmericanaFest 2025 Day 2
AmericanaFest 2025 Day 3